Scottish Executive

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive who was consulted regarding the inclusion in the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill of a national registration scheme for private landlords as agreed at stage 2 of the bill.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive did not engage in formal consultations on the inclusion of proposals for a national registration scheme in the bill since those proposals were inserted in the bill by non-Executive amendments.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment of the financial cost or practical implementation issues for local authorities or the private rented sector of setting up the national registration scheme for private landlords, and its on-going administration, has been carried out in relation to the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill.

Ms Margaret Curran: We have carried out a broad assessment of the likely cost of registration by discussion with a sample of local authority officials and have covered a range of implementation issues in consultations carried out with representatives of local authorities, private landlords and other interests since the scheme was introduced to the bill through non-Executive amendment at stage 2.

  We intend to carry out further consultation with key stakeholders on the detailed implementation of registration within the framework provided by the bill. Those consultations will go further into issues of cost and practical implementation.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance will be provided for local authorities on how to administer the national registration scheme for private landlords as agreed at stage 2 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill.

Ms Margaret Curran: As we indicated during the course of the stage 2 debate the Executive will issue guidance on a variety of matters to ensure the effective implementation of the registration scheme within the framework provided by the bill. The content of that guidance will be developed in consultation with local authorities and other key stakeholders.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how the national registration scheme for private landlords as agreed at stage 2 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill will relate to licensing of houses in multiple occupation and the introduction of pilot voluntary accreditation schemes.

Ms Margaret Curran: The registration scheme contained in the bill will ensure that private landlords are fit and proper people to be letting houses and will establish a list of the houses that they let. Licensing of houses in multiple occupation controls detailed physical and management standards for a specific category of privately let houses. Voluntary accreditation is intended to recognise physical and management standards in any type of privately let house.

  We wish to avoid unnecessary duplication in the assessment of landlords as fit and proper under the different schemes, or in the recording of details of houses, and will be working to achieve in consultation with key stakeholders on the detailed implementation of the registration scheme.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact of the national registration scheme for private landlords will be on the payment of housing benefits to tenants.

Ms Margaret Curran: The registration scheme allows for a rent sanction to be applied if a landlord who ought to be registered is not registered or has not applied to be registered. The sanction is that rent is not payable. In those circumstances the tenant is not liable to pay rent and housing benefit is accordingly not payable.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures will be introduced to ensure that tenants are protected against harassment or illegal eviction by landlords who are refused registration or are removed by a local authority from the proposed national registration scheme for private landlords.

Ms Margaret Curran: The refusal or removal of a landlord’s registration does not affect the tenant’s rights under the lease, the common law or housing law. The Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 makes unlawful eviction and harassment a criminal offence, and behaviour such as harassment and intimidation can lead to criminal prosecution under the common law.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that relevant local authority resources do not become mainly focused on policing non-compliance with the national registration scheme for private landlords rather than on addressing antisocial behaviour caused by private sector tenants.

Ms Margaret Curran: Although the registration scheme will provide a means of dealing with landlords who fail to adopt acceptable management approaches to antisocial behaviour it also serves a broader function. It assists local authorities to engage effectively with the private rented sector in pursuit of the strategic improvement of the sector in line with local housing strategies and Scottish Executive policies. As with other local authority functions, I expect each local authority to arrange its staffing and financial resources to support these purposes in an appropriate way according to local needs.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources will be allocated to local authorities to administer the national registration scheme for private landlords.

Ms Margaret Curran: The bill gives ministers powers to provide funding to local authorities in connection with the administration of the registration scheme. I intend to use those powers as necessary to ensure that the resources are in place to support the initial costs of establishing the scheme. I will decide the amount of support to be provided in the light of further detailed work with stakeholders on the implementation of the scheme within the framework provided by the bill. We intend that the running costs of the scheme will be met from registration fees.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will raise awareness of the national registration scheme for private landlords in order to increase the opportunity for discussion of the proposals among regulators, local authorities, regulated private landlords, letting agents and investors in the market.

Ms Margaret Curran: We have already involved a range of key stakeholders in discussions on the scheme since stage 2 of the bill process. We will discuss with the Landlord Sub-Group of the Implementation Advisory Group for the bill how best to involve relevant stakeholders in the development of the detail of the registration scheme, and to ensure that those with an interest are aware of the scheme and able to make their views known.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a regulatory impact assessment will be made of the effect of regulation on the supply of housing in the private rented market, in order to identify the implementation issues for the enforcement bodies, particularly local authorities and the police, and also Disclosure Scotland and sheriff courts.

Ms Margaret Curran: We intend to undertake a regulatory impact assessment as part of the development of the detailed implementation of the registration scheme within the framework provided by the bill. The assessment will inform the use of powers in the bill for ministers to make orders and regulations

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the resource implications of the national registration scheme will be for private landlords and how it will be funded.

Ms Margaret Curran: Our view from experience with the regulation of other activities is that the unit cost of operating the registration scheme will be modest, as it does not involve the inspection of premises. We intend that the running costs of the scheme will be met from registration fees.

Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the impact of the measures to regulate the private rented housing market contained in the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill will be on that market as the main source of accommodation for students, young professionals and public sector workers.

Ms Margaret Curran: The registration scheme is intended to protect tenants of all types in the private rented sector by ensuring that their landlords are fit and proper people to let housing. It is also the essential starting point for local authorities and the Scottish Executive to engage with the sector to encourage good standards, drive out unacceptable landlords and ensure that the sector’s important role in providing for housing need is enhanced.

Asylum Seekers

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what responsibilities the Care Commission has in respect of the children currently residing in Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre.

Mr Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1925 on 1 September 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  The Care Commission inspected the day care service on 22 March 2004 and produced a report.

Cancer

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will follow the practice in England of training and recruiting specialist skin cancer nurses in the NHS.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS boards are responsible for planning services in their area and for securing staff needed to deliver them.

  The Scottish Executive remains committed to building the capacity of the NHS workforce. Under the Facing the Future banner £10 million has been provided for a number of nursing initiatives over the last two financial years including funding for continuous professional development.

Child Poverty

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children lived in poverty in each year for which figures are available since 1999.

Ms Margaret Curran: The table presents the main estimates of children living in low income households, from 1999-2000 to the latest available year.

  Proportion and Number of Children in Low-Income Households, below 60% of GB Median Income, Scotland

  

  
 
 Year
 
 Absolute
 Relative


 Before 
  Housing
Costs
 After 
  Housing
Costs
 Before 
  Housing
Costs
 After 
  Housing
Costs


 %
 No. (000s)
 %
 No. (000s)
 %
 No. (000s)
 %
 No. (000s)


 1999-2000
 20
 220
 24
 260
 24
 260
 28
 310


 2000-01
 18
 190
 21
 230
 25
 260
 30
 320


 2001-02
 14
 140
 16
 170
 25
 260
 30
 320


 2002-03
 12
 130
 16 
  170 
 23
 240 
 27 
 280 



  The key low-income results, above, are for 60% of both the relative and absolute median thresholds. Estimates on the full range of income thresholds and explanation of how these estimates are calculated are published in Households Below Average Income, 1994-95 to 2002-03, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 32212).

  The relative low-income measure compares against the median in the same year. The absolute measure compares against the median in the baseline year of 1996-97, uprated to remove the effects of inflation.

Education

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5835 by Peter Peacock on 10 February 2004, whether the statement in Making it work together - A programme for government , published in September 1999, that "we will ensure that there are at least four modern computers for each class by 2003" was a target set by it and whether that level of computer provision has been achieved.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive set targets for the National Grid for Learning to achieve on average pupil to modern computer ratios of 5:1 in secondary schools and 7.5:1 in primary schools. These were expressed more succinctly in the 1999 Programme for Government as an average of "four modern computers for each class". The latest information, from the 2002 School Census (available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00272-00.asp) shows pupil:modern computer ratios of 3:1 in special schools, 5:1 in secondary schools and 9:1 in primary schools. Decisions about the actual deployment of the computers are taken locally in the light of teaching practice and accommodation requirements.

Education

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are statutory limits on the time that children can be away from home in order to attend school.

Peter Peacock: There are no statutory limits on the time that children can be away from home in order to attend school.

Education

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what safety requirements for children are placed on primary schools once the school day ends from when they are waiting for school transport until delivery to agreed pick-up point.

Peter Peacock: Education authorities have a legal duty to take reasonable care of the safety of pupils when under their charge. Scottish Executive guidance to authorities on school transport matters includes a focus on the safety of pupils.

Emergency Services

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what factors will be taken into account when considering whether there should be a third accident and emergency service in Greater Glasgow as a result of the acute services review.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-8366 on 15 June 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Environment

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) statutory sites have been designated under international conventions and directives, (b) non-statutory sites have been designated as sites of national importance, (c) statutory sites have been designated under national statutes and (d) other non-statutory site designations have been made and how much land has been covered by each category of designation, expressed also as a percentage of all designated land, in each of the last seven years.

Allan Wilson: Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) publishes detailed information on statutory and non-statutory natural heritage designations annually in Facts & Figures . Reports for the last seven years can be accessed through Scottish Parliament Reference Centre or the SNH website www.snh.org.uk.

Equine Industry

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much its Environment and Rural Affairs Department considers that the equine breeding industry is worth.

Ross Finnie: This data is not collected by the Scottish Executive.

External Relation

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all overseas offices belonging to each of its agencies, giving the location and number of staff employed in each such office.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally. This is an operational matter for the agencies concerned.

Further Education

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the funding of each further education college is for the current financial year, including any European Structural Funding, and what the funding would have been had it been based on activity levels.

Mr Jim Wallace: The recurrent grant provided to Scotland’s further education colleges by the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) is based on agreed targets of student activity. The information on individual funding allocations is as follows:

  

 College
 SFEFC 
  Recurrent Grant
2004-05
 ESF
2004*
 ESF
2005*


 Aberdeen College
 £18,780,583
 £191,907
 £61,731


 Angus College 
 £5,433,693
 £55,563
 £38,366


 Anniesland College
 £6,387,599
 £515,296
 £25,745


 Ayr College
 £7,029,316
 £189,071
 £153,506


 Banff and Buchan College of 
  Further Education 
 £5,325,688
 £79,431
 £86,101


 The Barony College
 £1,606,681
 £80,993
 


 Borders College 
 £4,854,500
 £140,077
 £121,689


 Cardonald College
 £9,718,315
 £229,034
 


 Central College of Commerce
 £5,439,763
 
 


 Clackmannan College of Further 
  Education
 £3,153,404
 £93,075
 


 Clydebank College
 £7,306,849
 £205,860
 £185,795


 Coatbridge College
 £4,760,929
 £161,297
 £166,222


 Cumbernauld College
 £3,874,962
 £204,531
 £78,249


 Dumfries and Galloway College 
  
 £5,362,317
 £134,676
 £137,431


 Dundee College
 £13,660,068
 £814,574
 £209,566


 Edinburgh's Telford College
 £15,453,193
 £132,645
 


 Elmwood College 
 £4,216,455
 £29,258
 


 Falkirk College of Further 
  and Higher Education
 £11,332,451
 £597,374
 £142,071


 Fife College of Further & 
  Higher Education
 £9,183,645
 £325,233
 


 Glasgow College of Building 
  and Printing
 £8,024,497
 £1,066,739
 


 Glasgow College of Food Technology
 £3,878,365
 £25,495
 £29,568


 Glasgow College of Nautical 
  Studies
 £4,840,932
 £112,994
 


 Glenrothes College
 £6,201,310
 £909,878
 £228,456


 Inverness College 
 £5,735,040
 
 


 James Watt College of Further 
  & Higher Education
 £19,721,515
 £752,701
 £46,548


 Jewel and Esk Valley College
 £8,525,216
 
 


 John Wheatley College
 £5,004,411
 
 


 Kilmarnock College
 £6,893,431
 £567,743
 £379,898


 Langside College
 £6,665,973
 £184,761
 


 Lauder College
 £6,977,733
 £575,603
 £21,556


 Lews Castle College 
 £1,566,723
 
 


 Moray College 
 £3,743,846
 
 


 Motherwell College
 £10,941,889
 
 


 Newbattle Abbey College
 £328,298
 
 


 North Glasgow College
 £6,533,671
 
 


 Oatridge Agricultural College 
  
 £2,114,596
 £89,541
 


 Orkney College 
 £958,324
 
 


 Perth College 
 £4,714,158
 
 


 Reid Kerr College
 £10,580,641
 £1,201,308
 


 Sabhal Mor Ostaig
 £547,350
 
 


 Shetland College of Further 
  Education 
 £965,932
 
 


 South Lanarkshire College
 £4,696,687
 £204,221
 £96,604


 Stevenson College Edinburgh
 £11,364,171
 £84,504
 


 Stow College
 £6,568,337
 £130,189
 £128,156


 The North Highland College 
  
 £3,671,940
 
 


 West Lothian College
 £5,571,951
 £69,421
 



  Notes:

  *Calendar year

  Due to the nature of European Structural Funding it is not possible to break the expenditure down into financial years. The European Commission uses calendar years for Structural Funds and as such the expenditure is recorded that way. Even if the figures could be split into financial years this would not reflect the total picture as more projects will be funded starting in 2005.

Further Education

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in mapping the supply of, and demand for, further education; when the mapping exercise will be completed, and whether the results will be broken down by college.

Mr Jim Wallace: In February 2004, the Scottish Further Education Funding Council commissioned the second mapping exercise of supply of and demand for further education in Scotland. A national report and eleven area reports are due to be completed in spring 2005. This exercise will build on the work of the first mapping exercise published in 2002 and will develop an analytical framework for examining all post-16 education and training in Scotland. At this point, the funding council’s intention is to publish aggregate results by local area based on existing data for individual colleges and other providers.

Further Education

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the results of the mapping of supply of, and demand for, further education (FE), broken down by college, will be used to inform future funding and other policy development in the FE sector.

Mr Jim Wallace: The national report and eleven area reports are due to be completed by the Scottish Further Education Funding Council in spring 2005. The main purpose of the mapping exercise is to inform the council’s strategic decisions about the allocation of funding to the FE sector.

Health

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether each NHS board has a Scottish Medicines Consortium implementation plan in place to ensure that patients with severe osteoporosis have access to Forsteo (teriparatide).

Malcolm Chisholm: All NHS boards are required to follow national implementation plans for drugs deemed by the Scottish Medicines Consortium to be unique. Local NHS boards will agree implementation plans for drugs where alternative drug treatments already exist. Implementation arrangements for both categories of drugs are explained in guidance issued by the Executive on 25 November 2003, NHS HDL (2003) 60, a copy which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 30255).

Hospitals

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what changes were introduced in the guidance on hospital car parking charges issued on 2 April 2004 compared with the guidelines issued on 17 March 2000.

Malcolm Chisholm: The guidance on car park charging issued to NHSScotland in March 2000 detailed the principles of car park charges, namely:

  The decision of whether to charge for car parking facilities is one for local determination in the light of local circumstances;

  Charging for car parking in hospitals should not be motivated by a desire to generate income, and

  Charging may only be justified if it:

  is to cover the cost of providing improved parking facilities;

  is to make the car park more secure, or

  is to better manage existing car parking facilities by discouraging "fly parkers".

  The guidance issued on 1 April this year, and detailed in my answer to S2W-7206 on 28 April 2004, develops these principles and is much fuller. This guidance, which will cover all future car parking schemes, applies both where car parking facilities are being provided and/or managed by NHS boards and by private sector providers.

  The revised guidance reiterates that car park charging should not be introduced as a means of generating income and details more fully the circumstances where charging may be justified, namely if it is to:

  cover any significant costs in providing new or improved parking facilities or making existing facilities more secure (e.g. capital charges, maintenance costs, administration costs, security costs, security lighting, CCTV), and

  better manage car parking facilities by discouraging unauthorised users (e.g. fly-parkers) but in so doing, measures taken to discourage unauthorised users must not be detrimental to the car parking arrangements for staff, patients and visitors.

  The revised guidance also outlines more fully the principles NHS boards should adhere to where charges are made, as follows:

  NHS boards must be able to demonstrate the level of income generated from car parking and how it has been utilised;

  before introducing or substantially revising car park charges, NHS boards must consult with staff, the public and any relevant bodies or organisations;

  sufficient car parking space and concessionary car parking rates should be available to staff and consideration should be given to providing concessions to certain categories of patient (e.g. patients attending regularly for dialysis or radiotherapy), and

  a reasonable proportion of parking spaces should be set aside for disabled parking. In determining disabled parking spaces, the needs of disabled persons should be fully considered (e.g. wide spaces, no kerbs or steps, preferably under cover, and located at different entrances to the NHS facility).

  The revised guidance further advises that where fly parking is a particular problem, in discouraging unauthorised users, NHS boards should investigate ways to control such parking, other than introducing excessive daily charges for all car-park users. Such options may be:

  to check at manual barriers the validity of parkers between, say 7 am and 10 am (e.g. staff id, appointment card, details of the patient they are visiting); or

  to limit the availability of car parking space by keeping certain car parks closed until 10 am and, say, designating car parks "staff only" and "out-patients/day-patients only", and

  where there is no option but to discourage or control the level of unauthorised parking by charging excessive daily rates, arrangements must be put in place to ensure that patients and visitors who are legitimately parked in the car park all day are given a concessionary rate.

  The guidance is clear that in all cases charges should reflect a reasonable balance between the perceived needs of staff, patients and visitors, the cost of car parking generally in the area, and the costs of maintaining car parking facilities, and concludes by stating that widespread charging of excessive rates to staff, patients or visitors cannot be justified.

Justice

Rosie Kane (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people from ethnic minority groups have been arrested as a result of stop-and-searches in each of the last five years, broken down by ethnic group.

Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is not held centrally. Scottish forces started recording the ethnicity of persons subject to stop and search or stop and interview on 1 April 2004.

Maternity Services

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that plans for the reconfiguration of maternity services in Greater Glasgow to reduce the number of neonatal units to two will not affect the quality of care delivered at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill.

Malcolm Chisholm: I would expect Greater Glasgow NHS Board to ensure that high quality care is delivered on all hospital sites in any reconfiguration of maternity services.

Maternity Services

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional neonatal consultants will be required as a result of the closure of the Queen Mother’s Hospital as part of plans for the reconfiguration of maternity services in Greater Glasgow.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS Greater Glasgow’s proposals for the reconfiguration of maternity services include a proposal for the recruitment of two additional neonatal consultants in order to ensure neonatal support for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Modern Apprenticeships

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many modern apprenticeships have been created in each year since 1999.

Lewis Macdonald: The detailed information on the exact number of people who begin a modern apprenticeship each year is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and is not held centrally.

Parliamentary Questions

The following answer was sent to the member on 4 July 2004:

Parliamentary Questions

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7832 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 May 2004, which individuals, agencies and organisations are asked to respond to parliamentary questions on behalf of ministers.

Patricia Ferguson: Only ministers can respond to parliamentary questions. However, under the terms of the Executive’s Guidance on Parliamentary Questions, where a question relates to operational matters, Chief Executives of Executive Agencies can be invited to provide information to form the substance of the answer.

  The Executive Agencies are as follows:

  Accountant in Bankruptcy

  Communities Scotland

  Fisheries Research Service

  Historic Scotland

  HM Inspectorate of Education

  National Archives of Scotland

  Registers of Scotland

  Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)

  Scottish Court Services

  Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency

  Scottish Prison Service

  Scottish Public Pensions Agency

  Student Awards Agency for Scotland

  Scottish Agricultural Science Agency.

People with Sensory Deprivation

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to fund the roll-out of audio-description and subtitling capacity to all cinemas.

Mr Frank McAveety: Scottish Screen is working to ensure that as many as possible of the films it supports are accessible to people with sensory deprivation. Future Lottery funding for film production will include provision for audio-description and subtitling. In addition, Scottish Screen is in discussions with the Scottish Arts Council over the possibility of finance for the specialised capital equipment needed by cinemas to provide suitable screenings for this audience.

Police

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to ensure the availability of family liaison officers to the families of murder victims.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to monitor the deployment of family liaison officers.

Cathy Jamieson: The procedures in place for family liaison officers are an operational matter for chief constables. Last year, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary carried out a thematic inspection of family liaison arrangements. Their report, Relatively Speaking – A Thematic Inspection of Family Liaison in Scotland, was published in May 2003 and is available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/justice/fltr-00.asp

  The report contained 17 recommendations.

  Following this report, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is currently developing guidance for use by all police forces, including nationally agreed criteria for the deployment of family liaison officers. I understand that the guidance is due to issue later this year.

Police

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is made available to ensure the provision of family liaison officers.

Cathy Jamieson: Decisions on the use of the available resources within police forces, including the level of funding for family liaison officers, is an operational matter for each Chief Constable. Funding for the Scottish Police Service is currently at record levels. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is currently developing guidance for use by all police forces which includes nationally agreed criteria for the deployment of family liaison officers. I understand that the guidance is due to issue later this year.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether HM Prison Kilmarnock uses methods for controlling incidents which differ from those used in the Scottish Prison Service and, if so, whether it will detail such differences.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  I refer the member to Schedule D of the contract with Premier Prison Services, which is available at www.sps.gov.uk.

Prisoner Escorts

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd staff were escorting each prisoner at the time each prisoner was released in error since the commencement of the contract with Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the provision of prisoner escort and court custody services.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The number and deployment of staff is an operational matter for Reliance. Each release in error is the subject of a thorough investigation conducted by the contract monitor.

Prisoner Escorts

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what crime each prisoner released in error by Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd had been charged with at the time they were so released.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  This information is not available. Personal information about named prisoners is covered by the terms of the Data Protection Act.

Public Private Partnerships

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8341 by Mr Andy Kerr on 2 June 2004, how it monitors value for money in those projects for which it is the procuring body.

Mr Andy Kerr: The monitoring of value for money applies to all publicly procured projects, and the Treasury’s Green Book provides guidance on appraisal and evaluation of projects for Government. Guidance specifically on the value for money of public private partnership projects is contained in Treasury Taskforce publications which apply in Scotland. Policy Statement No. 2, Public Sector Comparators and Value for Money , sets out the role of comparators in public procurement highlighting the importance of value for money. Copies are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 18565).

Public Private Partnerships

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8341 by Mr Andy Kerr on 2 June 2004, what research it is undertaking, or has commissioned, into value for money issues surrounding the general principles of PFI and PPP.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Executive has been involved in dialogue with Treasury over the new Green Book, and over an improved approach to the appraisal of public private partnerships. Treasury issued Draft Value for Money Appraisal Guidance in February which sets out new proposals for a value for money assessment, including the reform of the Public Sector Comparator. Documentation on this can be found on Treasury’s website at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk. The guidance is intended to provide a framework for evaluating the appropriateness of and value for money of PPP. A dialogue with both public and private sectors is continuing over these changes.

Racism

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will support people who believe that they have been subject to racial discrimination, racial abuse or worse racially-motivated actions.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Executive has made clear that racist attacks or harassment, in whatever form, or racial discrimination, will not be tolerated. We encourage people who believe they have been the subject of such behaviour to contact the appropriate authorities, such as the police or the Commission for Racial Equality. The Executive’s anti-racism website www.onescotland.com provides details of a wide range of organisations and groups that can provide advice and support.

Racism

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its anti-racism campaigns have a contact telephone number that has been publicised for those who need support because they believe that they have been subject to racial discrimination, racial abuse or worse racially-motivated actions.

Ms Margaret Curran: www.onescotland.com, the website developed as part of the Executive’s One Scotland. Many Cultures Campaign, provides contact details for a wide range of organisations and groups that can offer advice and support. In addition, the Executive funded One Workplace. Equal Rights project being run by the STUC, offers valuable advice to employees, employers and trade unions on tackling racism and promoting equal opportunities in the workplace. The project has established a website (www.oneworkplace.co.uk) and telephone hotline (0800 027 6655).

Racism

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has allocated to promote its anti-racism strategies in each of the last three years.

Ms Margaret Curran: In the last three years, the Executive spent the following sums to promote race equality and its anti-racism strategies:

  2001-02 - £200,000

  2002-03 - £1,500,000

  2003-04 - £ 903,000.

Racism

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has allocated to organisations that support those who believe that they have been subject to racial discrimination, racial abuse or worse racially-motivated actions in each of the last three years.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Commission for Racial Equality, as the statutory body responsible for promoting race equality and tackling race discrimination, provides advice and support to those who may have been the subject of racial discrimination or abuse. As a reserved body, the Commission is funded by the Home Office.

  Race Equality Councils also provide a valuable service. Councils are not directly funded by the Executive but it is open to them to apply to the Executive’s Ethnic Minority Grant Scheme, or other funding schemes.

  There are, of course, many other general advice and support bodies that can offer assistance in these circumstances.

Road Accidents

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-2516 by Malcolm Chisholm of 3 June 2004, whether it will commission research into the incidence of road traffic accidents in which sleepiness was a contributory factor.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive’s transport research programme for 2004-05 does not include research on sleep-related road accidents.

  The UK Government has been conducting research into sleep related road accidents for over 10 years and has published reports on a number of studies, including accidents on selected trunk roads and motorways. Current research by the Department for Transport, on sleep related road accidents on different types of road, is due to be published later this year.

Scottish Executive Staff

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its employees who are located in Edinburgh live in Fife.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive HR System holds information about the home addresses of staff. At April 2004, the home address of 215 staff in Scottish Executive core posts located in Edinburgh were recorded as being in Fife. An exercise is currently taking place to update this information.

Scottish Executive Staff

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many employees of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies that are located in Edinburgh, live in Fife.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive HR System holds information about the home addresses of staff in a number, but not all, of its agencies. At April 2004, within agencies and associated departments under the Scottish Executive administration, there were 309 staff in posts located in Edinburgh whose home address was recorded as being in Fife. An exercise is currently taking place to update the information held on the Scottish Executive HR System. Those agencies not on this system hold their own staffing information and work is being taken forward to include the validation of such staff addresses.

  Detailed information on the staff of non-departmental public bodies is not collected centrally.

Security Industry

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7908 by Cathy Jamieson on 13 May 2004, what information it has on the timescale for amending the relevant legislation to allow the Security Industry Authority to widen its remit to include Scotland.

Cathy Jamieson: My officials are working closely with the Home Office to ensure that legislation to regulate the private security industry is introduced at the earliest possible opportunity. The legislative programme for 2004-05 will be announced in the Queen’s Speech in November.

Security Industry

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7908 by Cathy Jamieson on 13 May 2004, whether it has received a response from the Home Secretary on whether a suitable legislative vehicle has been found to allow amendments to the Private Security Industry Act 2001 in the UK Parliament.

Cathy Jamieson: Suitable legislative vehicles are currently being explored and the legislative programme for 2004-05 will be announced in the Queen’s Speech in November. I have written again to the Home Secretary to emphasise the urgency which the Scottish Executive attaches to introducing legislation to regulate the private security industry.

Sport

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the commitment in Making it work together - A programme for government , published in September 1999, to establish a Scottish football academy and a network of local academies by 2002 as part of the wider programme of support for sport.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Executive made available funding to support the setting up of football academies across Scotland. Unfortunately due to the financial crisis in Scottish football, few clubs in the Scottish Football League or the Scottish Premier League were in a position to access the funding. Only three football academies received funding: Rangers FC, Hearts FC/Heriot Watt University and the Highland Football Academy. The Football Academy Programme, under the Lottery Sports Fund ended on 31 March 2003.

  Football, however, will be a major beneficiary from the national and regional sports facilities strategy which aims to develop a network of six multi-sport facilities across Scotland, including a national indoor arena for competition.

Sport

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the commitment in Making it work together - A programme for government , published in September 1999, to ensure that all schools have a sports co-ordinator by 2003.

Mr Frank McAveety: At the end of December 2003, 334 secondary schools across Scotland had a school sports co-ordinator in post. This represents coverage of some 86% of secondary schools.

  As part of the Executive’s Physical Activity Strategy, the school sports co-ordinator programme has been merged with the previous active primary schools programme, extended and developed to become the active schools programme. We have invested £24 million over the three years to 2005-06 to roll out the active schools programme across Scotland.

Student Finance

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the support that will be available to Scottish students attending university in England who may be required to pay higher tuition fees as a result of the proposed deregulation of tuition fees in those universities.

Mr Jim Wallace: I intend to make an announcement shortly.

Tartan Day

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8170 by Mr Andy Kerr on 1 June 2004, whether it will list all invitations received by it to Tartan Day events, showing which events were not accepted and on what grounds.

Mr Andy Kerr: Details of all Tartan Day events that the Executive accepted invitations to are contained within the answer to question S2W-7688 answered 11 May 2004. Details of invitations declined and reasons for doing so were given in the answer to question S2W-8170 answered 1 June 2004. All answer to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Teachers

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-7295 and S2W-8168 by Peter Peacock on 27 April and 25 May 2004 respectively, how many teacher vacancies it projects there will be in each local authority in (a) mathematics, (b) physics, (c) technology and design, (d) modern languages, (e) English, (f) chemistry, (g) biology, (h) art, (i) drama, (j) home economics, (k) computer studies and (l) physical education, in each year to 2007.

Peter Peacock: Information in the form requested is not held centrally. The projections that are made by the Scottish Executive are in the National Statistics Publication Notice Results of Teacher Workforce Planning for 2004-005 and can be accessed using the following hyperlink:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00322-00.asp.

Teachers

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-7295 and S2W-8168 by Peter Peacock on 27 April and 25 May 2004 respectively, how many teacher vacancies there were in each local authority in (a) mathematics, (b) physics, (c) technology and design, (d) modern languages, (e) English, (f) chemistry, (g) biology, (h) art, (i) drama, (j) home economics, (k) computer studies and (l) physical education, in each year since 1999 where figures are available.

Peter Peacock: The information requested is voluminous. A set of tables Full-time Equivalent Teacher Vacancies in Schools has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number: 32903).

Teachers

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies there were in each local authority area at 30 April 2004 for teachers of (a) English and (b) mathematics.

Peter Peacock: The latest information available from the teacher vacancies survey returned by local authorities at February 2004 is given in a set of tables Full-time Equivalent Teacher Vacancies in Schools which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 32903).

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Parliamentary Visits

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether any representations were received from the Chinese Government with regard to the visit of His Holiness The Dalai Lama to the Scottish Parliament and, if so, what the purpose was of the representations.

George Reid: I met with the Chinese Consul General, Mr Liu Jingxue on Thursday 11 March, where he raised the issue of the visit by His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet to the Scottish Parliament. The Consul General informed me of his government's policy on Tibet. I explained that His Holiness had been invited to lead Time for Reflection as a world religious leader only.